1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image transfer apparatus which has, for example, a function of transferring an image obtained by reading an original by a scanner to another Internet facsimile terminal via a network in a predetermined Internet facsimile system, and a function of transferring an electronic mail with the image attached thereto to an arbitrary terminal such as another computer terminal via the network irrespective of the Internet facsimile system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital complex machine is general which uses a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or an integrated services digital network (ISDN) as a method of communication of an image with a remote area. This type of the digital complex machine is easy to operate and can transmit a message even in the absence of a receiving person. Therefore, the machine is broadly spread not only in a business field but also in a household. A communication standard of a facsimile using the PSTN or ISDN is standardized/recommended as a G3 facsimile or a G4 facsimile by International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Such facsimile has advantages that a communication circuit is directly secured with a facsimile on a reception side and thereby data can be transferred at a highest communication speed allowed in a band width of the communication circuit. It can be checked that the data is securely transmitted by the direct communication with the destination. Moreover, a capability negotiation is performed so as to check whether a form of the data to be transmitted is allowable for the reception side, and the data can securely be transmitted.
On the other hand, with generalization of Internet, a service has become popular which uses Internet instead of a conventional circuit exchange network.
Particularly when a transmission distance or a data amount is large, a communication cost can be minimized with the transmission via Internet. Therefore, there has been provided an Internet digital complex machine which has a function of transmitting/receiving an image via Internet in addition to the function of a usual digital complex machine.
Moreover, this type of Internet digital complex machine generally transmits image data as an attached file of the electronic mail on Internet. Therefore, since the image data is transferred in a connectionless manner, the negotiation performed by the G3 or G4 facsimile cannot be performed. In a used communication mode, a transmission side sends the image in a one-sided manner.
In the Internet facsimile system using this communication mode, the electronic mail is usually used to transfer the image. Therefore, even when the terminal of the transmission destination is not an Internet facsimile terminal, but when the terminal has a function of receiving the electronic mail, even computer terminals such as a personal computer can receive an image transfer. That is, a function of a network scanner for transferring the image obtained by reading the original to another computer terminal can also be easily disposed.
However, when the terminal has both the functions of the image transfers as the Internet facsimile and as the network scanner, and when the image is transferred, a user has to designate whether a transfer destination is an Internet facsimile terminal or a computer terminal. Therefore, convenience for use by the user is deteriorated.